Away We Go – Diving Begins
The past week has been a whirlwind of activity in preparation for departure on August 4 – all team members arrived onboard the Atlantis at the Newport International Terminal. At ~ 10 am August 5th, the the R/V Atlantis departed Newport bound for the Oregon Offshore site~ 50 miles west of Newport. Looking back on the cruise blog from last year, it has been almost exactly one year since our team was making this same journey. Similar to last year, there has been a huge effort over the last few days by the RCA and R/V Atlantis team, supported by a shore crane and local longshoreman, to get 1000s of pounds of gear onboard, tied down, secured, tested, and prepared for deployments. The labs were also busy with computers, workstations, testing of communications and video equipment, analytical instruments set up, storing a stash of tools, supplies, and sampling gear all squirreled safely away. Prior to departure, is key that everything is well secured so that nothing rolls around during the transit.
In addition to gear, an excited group of six undergraduates and one graduate student joined our team. The students are primarily from the UW and studying oceanography and marine biology, but one student is from Western Washington University, and another is from Queens College in New York. For all of these students as well as a few of the RCA staff, it is their first time on a research cruise.
The first morning of a cruise is always filled with lots of information. From an early fire and boat drill and safety briefing to a Jason tour and orientation, and CTD briefing. The first day can feel very compressed with all the briefings and only a four-hour transit before the Atlantis reached the Oregon Offshore site and began its first operation. The first opportunity for the VISIONS students and RCA student ambassadors to get hands on experience was a verification CTD cast to 220 m. The students’ gained newfound knowledge on preparing and deploying a CTD, which was quickly put to use.
During the transit and CTD, the engineering team was busy on deck and in the lab putting the final touches on the two packages (am instrumented stationary platform called the PIA for short, and an instrumented winched profiler) that were turned on the 200 m Shallow profiler over a series of three Jason dives that followed the CTD. To the untrained eye, initial operations can seem a bit chaotic, but the team has been preparing for this for an entire year, and every member knows their tasks. With calm seas and warm sun, we are excited to be back at sea and maintaining the array.
Leg 1 VISIONS’25 students on the R/V Atlantis as the ship departs Newport.
The fantail of the Atlantis is packed with RCA infrastructure, awaiting deployment on Leg 1. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington.
VISIONS’24 UW student ambassador, Jolee Thirytacres, gains experience running tugger during the first CTD launch. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V25.